Authorities in Hoeryong have raised cash contributions for households seeking exemption from compulsory work mobilizations in their neighborhood watch units.
Speaking on condition of anonymity, a source in North Hamgyong Province told Daily NK recently that wealthy families “pay money to get out of labor mobilizations by neighborhood watch units for a year, but in Hoeryong the amount they have to pay has been increased from July, leading to complaints from some people.”
In North Korea, neighborhood watch units conduct various labor mobilizations each year, including sprucing up villages, railroads and roads, cleaning public toilets and picking up trash. However, some wealthy households pay cash to avoid the mobilizations.
One neighborhood watch unit in Hoeryong made households pay RMB 300 (about USD 41) in the first half of the year to get out of the work mobilizations for the year, the source said.
The money paid by households is kept by the head of the neighborhood watch unit to be used for light economic tasks from the neighborhood office, to be spent on local family events, or to support people participating in labor mobilizations, the source said.
However, in July, the neighborhood watch unit suddenly issued an order telling households to pay an additional RMB 200 (USD 28) because the amount had increased to RMB 500 (USD 70) for the year. This meant that households that had paid RMB 300 in the first half of the year had to pay an additional RMB 200.
People grumble about increase in costs to avoid work
According to the source, a neighborhood watch unit committee in Hoeryong held a meeting about this increase in late June.
At the meeting, the head of the neighborhood watch unit said that “prices had risen across the board, neighborhood offices were ordering more tasks, and labor mobilizations had increased, so households had to pay an extra RMB 200 to stay out of mobilizations,” and that households that could not pay “will have to participate in mobilizations from now on.”
People were confused by the sudden order to raise the amount and pay more, but wealthy households paid the extra RMB 200 as ordered by the official. They thought it would be much better to eat a little less and not have to worry about the head of the neighborhood watch unit knocking on their door at dawn to force them to work.
“As the mobilization of the neighborhood watch units increases and life gets harder as the year goes on, fewer households pay money, so those who do pay are asked to pay more,” the source said. “Families with money grumble that they don’t want to pay that much because they can just pay [the head of the neighborhood watch unit] to hire someone else when there are mobilizations, but they pay the money anyway because they don’t want to hear someone knocking on their door at dawn.”
Some affluent households pay KPW 5,000 to KPW 20,000 to hire someone in their place during neighborhood watch mobilizations, depending on the type of work.
“People with money try to avoid difficult or dirty work,” the source said. “People who don’t make money at least make some money by doing the work in their place.”
Daily NK works with a network of sources living in North Korea, China, and elsewhere. Their identities remain anonymous for security reasons.
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